soon to be silent Key in the sky AO-51 ECHO
Peter KG6LSE
Posts: 1,383
I was hoping to do a pass today and looked at the AMSAT site ...
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UPDATE:
The IHU crashes each eclipse, erasing the software needed to operate the repeater automatically. At this time the command team is turning the repeater on and off during some US passes, mainly in the afternoon, and only as available. The repeater is open to all when this happens. The uplink is now 145.880, and the downlink is 435.150. We are working on trying to automate this.
73, Drew KO4MA
All,
We are having a difficult time trying to restore AO-51 to operation. Currently, the satellite will not retain the upload of the flight software across eclipse. The batteries are in very poor condition. We have a few more things to try, but with eclipses peaking around July at ~27 minutes, the long term situation is grim. There is a brief period around November where eclipses are as short as 16 minutes, but past that it is a long climb to 30 minutes or longer eclipses for many years. We have no expected "return to service" date. If you have 9k6 digital capability, you can listen in on our attempts at recovery on 435.150 on many passes over the US.
Please support AMSAT-NA and the other AMSAT groups around the world, and help us get new satellites into orbit. Projects like Fox, FunCube, P3E, and Kiwisat need your financial support to keep our amateur satellite fleet flying.
73, Drew KO4MA
AMSAT-NA VP Operations
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and saw that ......
may she burn up in peace .
I hope Hams can get some $$ to get a new one up there..Soon . I have done all kinds of haming but I really enjoyed the random QSOs I did Via the birds ..
"""""""
UPDATE:
The IHU crashes each eclipse, erasing the software needed to operate the repeater automatically. At this time the command team is turning the repeater on and off during some US passes, mainly in the afternoon, and only as available. The repeater is open to all when this happens. The uplink is now 145.880, and the downlink is 435.150. We are working on trying to automate this.
73, Drew KO4MA
All,
We are having a difficult time trying to restore AO-51 to operation. Currently, the satellite will not retain the upload of the flight software across eclipse. The batteries are in very poor condition. We have a few more things to try, but with eclipses peaking around July at ~27 minutes, the long term situation is grim. There is a brief period around November where eclipses are as short as 16 minutes, but past that it is a long climb to 30 minutes or longer eclipses for many years. We have no expected "return to service" date. If you have 9k6 digital capability, you can listen in on our attempts at recovery on 435.150 on many passes over the US.
Please support AMSAT-NA and the other AMSAT groups around the world, and help us get new satellites into orbit. Projects like Fox, FunCube, P3E, and Kiwisat need your financial support to keep our amateur satellite fleet flying.
73, Drew KO4MA
AMSAT-NA VP Operations
""""
and saw that ......
may she burn up in peace .
I hope Hams can get some $$ to get a new one up there..Soon . I have done all kinds of haming but I really enjoyed the random QSOs I did Via the birds ..
Comments
I'm sure we'll get the $$$ up to get another one in the air before too long.
KK